Dutch PropTech Insights - Menno Lammers - October 2018

Dutch PropTech Insights (October 2018)

These insights are written by Menno Lammers, founder of PropTechNL. PropTechNL is a community of ambitious leaders who are active in real estate and the built environment and want to take their business to the next level. Together we are engaged on a life-changing journey that is good for the world, the company and the individual. PropTechNL helps leaders make quicker and better decisions in a complex and rapidly changing digital world. We take their organization to a higher level, allowing for (new) customer needs to be better served and resulting in a positive impact on society as a whole.

If you have tips for the Dutch insights, please send Menno Lammers an e-mail.

An overview of trends in the Dutch real estate market:

The Netherlands has approx 7.7 million homes. At the start of 2017 there were 4,318,794 owner-occupied homes and 3,273,954 rental properties, of which 2,251,495 were owned by a housing corporation. The Netherlands counts about 400,000 properties with more than 1.3 million end users. The size of the Dutch professional property investment market amounts to 75 billion euros (2017 | ASRE).

One of the current big trends is the digitalization and automation of processes with the use of analytics to make processes leaner. I see it happening in all segments – from design and engineering to construction, operations, financing and the marketplace as a whole.

Another trend is Healthy Offices with the adoption of people-centric approaches and pay-by-use and/or As-a-Service models. It started with the need to reduce energy consumption (to increase profit). Now the concern is more around creating a circular economy (for the benefit of our planet). The human factor is now getting the attention and is increasingly seen as a value generator rather than a cost item. So, we have to take care of employees by creating healthy, smart and sustainable offices and preferably coupled with a Digital Twin.

In the future, PropTech will be more connected with global challenges like urbanization, climate change, affordable housing, etc. I think we have the responsibility to do that because we did not inherit the earth from our parents… we borrow it from our children.

Other developments in real estate: war-for-talent, Growing prices (materials, assets, people), the struggle between doing their regular business and strategize digital transformation, a ‘back to nature’ movement: urban farming, trees, creating new parks, bring water into the city, vertical woods, green rooftops etc.

The size of the Dutch PropTech market?

Depending on how you define ‘PropTech company’. I estimate that the Netherlands has around 250-300 PropTech companies. That’s 4-5 percent global market share and 10-15 percent in Europe. The Netherlands are doing pretty good when you look at the PropTech companies vs. inhabitants’ ratio in relation to other countries. But at the end, it’s not about numbers, but about creating positive impact on society.

An overview of the Dutch PropTech investment market:

There is no Dutch PropTech funds and there are no Dutch VC’s who are investing only in PropTech. There is not a PropTech accelerator in The Netherlands, only accelerators who are active in parts of PropTech industry, like:

StartupBootCamp – Smart City & IoT

World Startup Factory – Sustainable city

Rockstart – Smart energy

​Dutch Real Estate companies that are adopting PropTech the most:

Hard to say, but the traditional landscape is changing. All entities are busy with digital transformation on different levels. When I put my ear into the market, the companies that have direct contact with the end-user are most active with PropTech solutions. For example, the property/ facility manager. But those middlemen ‘know’ they have to reinvent themselves.

Top 5 most Successful Dutch PropTech solutions:

If you connect successful solutions with international expansion, these companies are scaling up outside the Netherlands. In random order:

Edge Technologies – they provide a new generation of healthy, technologically innovative and energy-positive office buildings;

What curriculum in PropTech do Dutch Universities of High Schools offer?

Universities or High Schools have BIM integrated in their curriculum. There are no Universities or High Schools who offer a specific PropTech curriculum. For example, the Technical University Delft, Technical University Eindhoven and University Twente offer curriculums where people can learn: How to make buildings and cities of tomorrow energy neutral, sustainable, healthy, and comfortable. How to create healthy, safe and viable urban environments to live, work and play. The Technical University Delft offers a specific program ‘Building Technology’. University Twenty offers a curriculum of Management, Society and Technology which impact the living environment. A good start and I’m really sure that this area will grow.

How do PropTech professionals in your region communicate? Is there a forum or an app you use?

There is not one dominant communication channel. It’s a multi-channel approach to reach out. From newspaper, magazines & WhatsApp, to -Instagram like @proptechnl

Are there any government initiatives supporting innovation in real estate?

The Dutch government has a digitization strategy. The Netherlands have a good starting position to capitalize on the economic and social opportunities of digitization. At the moment BouwAgenda is also working on the topic digitization, especially for the construction industry.

5 emerging Dutch companies you should watch?

Qii – A platform enabling communication between landlords and residential tenants. They have just launched a new solution that looks very promising: the tenants’ passport that enables the safe and easy sharing of tenants’ personal profile.

Physee – The first and only company to provide completely transparent windows, that generate data by sensing the environment and convert sunlight into electricity, simultaneously;

ParkBee – a tech startup with smart technology to open up private car parks to the public;

EcoChain – they provide the environmental intelligence platform for leading companies to build a sustainable future.

PropTech influencers of the Netherlands you should follow:

In random order, ten people who have -in my opinion- above-average influence and impact on the digital transformation in the real estate sector. Some are visible, some get things done behind the scenes.

Mentor at StartupBootCamp

PropTechNL is a community of ambitious leaders who are active in real estate and the built environment and want to take their business to the next level. Together we are engaged on a life-changing journey that is good for the world, the company and the individual. PropTechNL helps leaders make quicker and better decisions in a complex and rapidly changing digital world. We take their organization to a higher level, allowing for (new) customer needs to be better served and resulting in a positive impact on society as a whole.